Using data from the 2024 General Social Survey (GSS), I examined differences in estimated verbal IQ based on the respondent’s region of residence at age 16. The analysis included 2,591 respondents with complete data on the relevant variables.
Verbal ability was estimated using the GSS WORDSUM test, a 10-item vocabulary measure that has been included in the survey for decades. Vocabulary scores were converted to an estimated IQ scale with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 to facilitate interpretation. This transformation does not produce clinical IQ scores but instead provides an easily understood metric for comparing average levels of verbal ability across groups.
The results revealed statistically significant regional differences (η = .144, p < .001). Respondents who had lived in the Northeast (mean = 103.1) and West (mean = 102.5) at age 16 obtained the highest average estimated verbal IQ scores. Those from the Midwest fell near the national average (mean = 99.5), while respondents from the South (mean = 97.9) and those who lived outside the United States at age 16 (mean = 97.8) had the lowest average scores.
These findings should be interpreted cautiously. The WORDSUM test measures vocabulary knowledge, which is strongly related to verbal ability and is moderately to strongly correlated with general intelligence in many validation studies. However, it is not a comprehensive IQ test and does not assess other important cognitive abilities such as abstract reasoning, processing speed, or working memory. Consequently, the values reported here should be viewed as estimates of verbal ability expressed on an IQ-like scale, rather than direct measures of full-scale IQ.
Regional averages also reflect the characteristics of the respondents who grew up in those regions and should not be interpreted as representing innate differences among regions. Many factors—including educational opportunities, socioeconomic conditions, migration, cultural influences, and demographic composition—likely contribute to the observed differences. The relatively lower mean for respondents who lived outside the United States at age 16 should be interpreted with caution. Many members of this group are likely to have learned English as a second language. Because WORDSUM is an English vocabulary test, differences in English language proficiency may depress scores independently of verbal reasoning or general cognitive ability. The results describe associations within the 2024 GSS sample and do not, by themselves, establish causal explanations.
